Dan Kirk

Experienced Founder, Investor, and Advisor for almost 20 years with experience in bringing novel and emerging tech to market. In 2007, Dan led an engineering team in developing a patentable process for deriving fuel from algae, a process now identified as a long-term sustainable solution for energy production.

After exiting that project, Dan worked with a boutique management consulting firm focused on a project in Texas’ newly deregulated energy market.

In 2017, as an early crypto-adopter, Dan led engineering efforts to develop patentable crypto-mining machines with embedded algorithms to maximize efficiency and profits.

Serving as a Partner at Propellant Labs, Dan plays a significant role in advising over 400 member companies in investments, international expansion, and business development. He has helped hundreds of startups improve focus, fundraising, and growth through his commitment to this role.

Dan is passionate about the creative process and the power of technology to solve humanity’s foundational challenges (e.g., in education, energy, telecommunications, transportation, finance, healthcare, agriculture, and real estate), believing that tech-enabled, “Smart Cities” can ensure the planet peacefully sustains its growing populations. This is the reason he founded CityLeap.

Outside of the office, Dan enjoys outdoor activities, investing, and film.

Bryan Banfield

Successful entrepreneur, consultant and visionary. Since 2006 Bryan has started and grown multiple 7 figure businesses in the ICT sector.

Bryan’s specific speciality is designing and implementing IT strategies in the Education and Tourism Sectors.

He is a sought after thought leader and enjoys pulling likeminded individuals togethers to build teams and companies that are making a marked difference in the world today.

He is a passionate husband and father and enjoys multiday hikes, camping, and scuba diving.

Gene Swank

Gene is a serial entrepreneur who bootstrapped his first venture with less than $100 initial investment into a multi million dollar global corporation. He has been responsible for successful ventures in the manufacturing, technology, fashion, real estate and education verticals. Prior to his work as an entrepreneur, Gene spent 15 years in the high tech industry where he lead projects in aerospace,  telecom and is recognized as an early pioneer of WiMAX technology. Gene is also on the board of Springs Charter Schools, the largest private charter school network in America.  He is a contributor to Forbes.com, a mentor for a variety of companies from computer vision to a professional sports league and is a respected thought leader in crypto and blockchain.

David Dowling

David has over 20 years experience building high growth, profitable tech companies. He founded media.com, an award winning digital marketing agency that pioneered the cost-per-click buying model and became a subsidiary of Grey Group. He was part of the leadership team at NetZero from their days as a startup, through an IPO, to becoming a $1 billion global public company. David is a mentor to many startup companies and accelerators.